USAID is coming: Why the Philippines should be worried to lose Duterte

What really seems to be weirding people out here is the shock realization that USAID — the nice, humanitarian, democracy-promoting arm of American idealism — also engages in sleazy regime-change and subversion. The sorts of nefarious covert activities folks normally associate with the CIA.

Washington DC – Members of the National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA) gathered in Washington DC for the celebration of Filipino American History Month on Friday. Attendees of the event included Loida Lewis and one of its founder, Rodel Rodis. That same week, Rodel Rodis went to the United States Senate to lobby S.1055 also known as Philippine Human Rights Accountability and Counternarcotics Act of 2017. Rodel wrote that this bill would authorize $50 million to USAID. The bill is currently “introduced” in the senate.

Why should Filipinos worry?

The following are excerpts of written reports about the role of USAID is destabilizing governments. It is important to read through all the articles I’ve shared to know what could happen when USAID succeeds.

“PETERKORNBLUH:USAID is clearly in the job of trying to bring about regime change in Cuba. It financed a program sending private contractors into Cuba secretly several years ago to set up satellite communications networks. And now we’ve found out, through this extraordinary Associated Press story, that it was trying to set up a secret Twitter network that has all the elements of a classic covert operation. It has secret bank accounts, shell companies, multinational platforms in terms of various countries being used—Nicaragua, Spain, Ireland, London—and in the background a murky office in USAID called the Office of Transition Initiative, OTI, that clearly is, you know, competing with the Central Intelligence Agency for creative regime change programs in Cuba. It’s a stunning story. It’s an important story. And I’m glad we’re talking about it.” Read more from democracynow.org >>>

“At a Senate hearing on U.S.A.I.D.’s budget last week, Senator Patrick Leahy told the agency’s administrator, Rajiv Shah, that his oversight committee was receiving “lots of emails” from aid workers around the world asking this question: “How could they do this and put us in such danger?” The solution is simple: ban U.S.A.I.D. from conducting such covert operations in the name of advancing democracy.” Read more from nytimes.com >>>

“Below the radar, another journalism scandal is brewing: the U.S. government is secretly funding foreign news outlets and journalists. Government bodies – including the State Department, the Department of Defense, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) and the U.S. Institute for Peace (USIP) – support “media development” in more than 70 countries. In These Times has found that these programs include funding hundreds of foreign nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), journalists, policy-makers, journalist associations, media outlets, training institutes and academic journalism faculties. Grant sizes can range from a few thousand to millions of dollars.” Read more from inthesetimes.com >>>

“What really seems to be weirding people out here is the shock realization that USAID — the nice, humanitarian, democracy-promoting arm of American idealism — also engages in sleazy regime-change and subversion. The sorts of nefarious covert activities folks normally associate with the CIA. Not that this is news to PandoDaily readers, of course: Earlier this year, we broke the story about USAID co-investing with Omidyar Network in Ukraine NGOsthat organized and led the Maidan revolution in Kiev, resulting in the overthrow of President Viktor Yanukovych. That revolution hasn’t turned out so well — thanks to the “success” of the USAID-Omidyar-funded revolution, there’s talk of the West going to war with nuclear-armed Russia, Ukraine is losing entire chunks of territory like the proverbial leper on a waterslide, Kiev is run by a coalition of costume-party fascists and a handful of billionaire Mafia dons—and Vladimir Putin has never been more popular, or more tyrannical.” Read more from pando.com >>>

“USAID is up to its ears in the effort for “regime change” in South Sudan with dozens of CIA ops operating inside the country. Look at Latin America and the USAID’s dirty war against Cuba for decades now with USAID involved in recent “coups” and “quiet coups” in Central and South America. When you deal with the USAID you are dealing with the US-CIA and never forget it. Better yet, kick them out of your country like our government did here in Eritrea more than a decade ago.” Read more from telesurtv.net >>>

What can you do to stop USAID from coming to the Philippines?

You need to email, call, or send letters to the United States senators, more importantly the ones who know about the troubles of USAID, like Senator Patrick Leahy, Senator Bernie Sanders, and Senator Elizabeth Warren. This is extremely important. Note that when writing this letter, the keywords are “regime change” and how its effect will be as disastrous as Syria.

Filipinos in the USA must be united to form and finance a coalition that can counter-lobby.

Call the attention of your local politicians in the Philippines to block USAID from coming.

Call the attention of socmed bloggers like Mocha, TP, Sass, & Bruce to organize the Filipinos all over the world and push them to do #1 and #2. – BRGY